Reading

Insufficiently "Fanfare to the Common Man" for my tastes, and I don't like the intro video either.

(And I have Thoughts. For a society so obsessed with the Prime Directive, Federation humans are equally obsessed with the idea that secretly, all species would be better off as humans. Here it is AGAIN in this ep. Nevermind that being raised by Vulcans is a strange plot contrivance, isn't it enough that she's content and functional, without having to ditch who she is to be "more human" by some arbitrarily emotional reckoning? Is this universal Trek belief a clever dig at Americans, or do Trek writers really agree with this? Eddington was right - they're worse than the Borg! They assimilate people, and they don't even realize it. This would be an interesting angle to take. They already have the seeds planted with the Klingons. They're not going to go that route, though.)

Ah well. In other news, J was thrilled with his bag. Also, I am sick. *sneeze*

Oh! And when I came home today from walking the dogs, there was a cardboard cat carrier and a small box of cat food on my porch. This is all a bit inexplicable, and I'm wondering if maybe somebody intended to leave a cat there? If so, kitty escaped. Just as well - I'm full up on formerly stray animals.

This is Cary Elwes' memoir of the making of the film, a book I had vaguely meant to read for years, but did not actually get around to until our new roommate left his copy in the house this summer as a sort of placeholder before actually moving in. It's very charming! I'd sort of always had a vague sense that Cary Elwes must in some way resent being forever branded as The Man In Black, and I'm sure that at some points he has and does, but this write-up is probably the most overwhelmingly positive and enthusiastic Hollywood making-of memoir I've ever read. It's clearly intended for people who love the film and want to go on loving it, without a complicated feeling in sight.

My favorite part was probably the enthusiastic things that Cary Elwes and everyone interviewed had to say about Robin Wright and her acting as Buttercup; they're all like "we sailed through on jokes! playing the straight man is the hardest role in the cast! ALSO SHE CAME FROM SOAP OPERAS, SOAP OPERAS ARE SO HARD, DO YOU KNOW HOW MANY LINES PER DAY --" I went in braced to feel vaguely defensive of Robin Wright and Buttercup, as I so often do, and instead I was charmed and endeared!

I also enjoyed accounts of:- Mandy Patinkin turning up to the first rehearsal with six months of sword practice under his belt, much to Cary Elwes' dismay- William Goldman freaking out about Rob Reiner setting the leading lady on fire- Andre the Giant accidentally conking Cary Elwes out on set- Cary Elwes carefully arranging himself on the grass in an elegant lounging position to hide that he'd broken an ankle joyriding in a golf card- so much detailed description of sword training and fight choreography! *__* SO MUCH

but given the advanced state of their tech, am I wrong in pegging this as a third universe? Okay, that's my official head-canon. Something, something, temporal cold war - THIRD UNIVERSE! (So does each new parallel universe also have its own twin mirror universe?)

Also: Why do all futuristic jails in all universes everywhere have force fields with no physical backup? That seems like a major design flaw.

Also also: Why are all the Klingons bald? Strange fashion choice, or genetic disease?

With my creativity currently at an ebb, I hadn't intended to write anything for Remix Revival Madness, but a very, very last-minute fic idea jumped into my head during this past week and started doing the plot bunny equivalent of banging pots and pans together in an effort to make itself heard. So in a mad dash, I duly hammered out about 1500 words for it, and would like to have made it longer, but for now I think it'll do.

So to remix elstaplador's La Forza dell'Amore, an invisible fandom work about the opera that Yuri!!! on Ice's Stammi Vicino aria and duet might have come from, I wrote A Gala Performance (They're Playing Our Song Remix), in which Viktor Nikiforov buys out an entire Mariinsky Theatre box for a performance of La Forza dell'Amore and goes through an entire package of tissues almost by himself...except for the ones that Yuuri and Yuri end up using, that is.

(I have a longer story planned about the performance of Eugene Onegin briefly mentioned in the fic, but that's for another day.)

Carefully cut out the superman logo. Carefully started sewing. Realized I'd carelessly put it wrong side up (that is, the side with the ink). Ripped out the stitches, flipped it - d'oh! Silly me, I should've flipped it when I drew it!

The funny thing is that all his classmates, their families just drew on the bags with Sharpies. His mom asked me to do it due to lack of time, but I can't draw! I even had somebody else do the stencils for me! So now it looks like I put in way more effort than anybody else (despite the fact that I can see all the errors glaring out at me), but really, I just can't draw. Cutting and sewing is a LOT easier for me.

For the remixrevival exchange, I was matched with makiyakinabe, and ended up going a little outside of my comfort zone to remix an AU I've never tried to write before: a daemon (His Dark Materials) AU of the World War II espionage anime Joker Game. The original fic, tools of the trade, put an interesting spin on the concept, so I kept the basic plot structure and made some tweaks to reinterpret the concept for a non-Christian culture. The result came out as Tsukumogami (The Subtle Knife Remix), and though I had to rework the ending a few times before I was completely satisfied with it, I think this idea turned out well.

In turn, I very much enjoyed the remix written from my own story -- Turn the Page (Don't Fear the Ending) by the always-delightful edenfalling! Based on The Monster at the End of This Book, a missing-scene fic for Salman Rushdie's Haroun and the Sea of Stories, the remix does an excellent job of presenting one of the important implicit themes in the book, about the choices that people (and women in particular) make when they feel that they aren't in control of their own stories. I highly recommend both the original book and this fic!

If you're looking for an anything Marvel-based exchange, nominations are now open for this year's edition of marvelismarvel.

We have a long nomination period so everyone has time to consider both Marvel Is Marvel and Yuletide. We had a great time with this exchange last year, and are looking forward to more beautiful fanfic and fanart.

Unlike the orange!verse, this is a) real and b) government sanctioned, officially. <3 <3 <3 <3!

C'est magnifique, absolument! As nearly ever. I say nearly ever because nowhere's perfect, see that line in the article about previous persecution of trans* folks, but... Around here, our officials are still persecuting them. Up north, people are openly apologizing to them for the unwarranted ill. I... Shards. What am I doing down here, again? This CIS queer lady has a case of continued star eyes! Uncommon common human decency for the sharding win.

So... okay, so, I saw six apartments today, and one of them seems... like it could be so good. I really, really liked it when I was in it, and then a few hours later, I was waffling like hell and doubting whether I really liked it that much and whether I should hold out for another and whether I should feel more strongly and why am I not feeling strongly... Broker pointed out that I could be gun-shy, given what apartment-hunting got me last time. I'm trying to stay balanced about the whole thing, but I don't!!!!! know!!!!!!

All that said, as I was typing this entry, a friend I had lunch with checked in to see how the showing had gone. Between her reaction to the pictures and how excited I felt telling her about the place (and realizing that actually I do have places to put all my bookcases that make sense, and I could definitely work with those tiny bedrooms by painting an accent wall)... I'm leaning much more heavily yes. I should sleep on it! We'll see!